Blue Moon 104: Scorched Earth
by EldritchSandwich
Summary: The fourth episode of my Firefly series. An uneventful job goes awry and, what's worse, Captain Wu hasn't been herself lately. She'll have to pull together if she wants to get her crew out of this one unscathed…


Mona raised her sword with only a second to spare and, with a click, Sir Anderson's blade stopped against hers, mere fingerwidths from her head. She pushed forward on the epee, and Sir Anderson backed up a few steps, flourishing and grinning smugly. The noble lunged, but Mona rolled onto her knees, ending up on his left. She swung the sword around toward his back, but he twisted his arm around for a parry. Mona, breathless, shrugged appreciatively. He was pretty spry for an old fellow.

Leo watched the duel from the catwalk, smiling. It was nice to see his uncle finally making an effort to fit in. The doctor felt something drag against his thigh and his eyes wandered to the left. Daphne had slid along the railing and was now pressed against him. She gave him no coy looks, however, but merely watched the fight and let the feel of her skin through the sheer silk do its work. "Who's winning?"

"I, uh…I don't think they're keeping track."

Daphne smiled and shook her head, thinking just for a moment about something other than how to bed the good doctor. "How did this happen?"

Leo sighed contentedly. "As I understand it, she was rooting around in his room, making a nuisance of herself, found one of his foils, started asking questions, and…" the doctor waved his hand out toward the duelists, "…this."

She nodded, her momentary distraction by the spectacle fading. Daphne's foot slipped backward, wrapping behind Leo's and pulling his leg between hers. "I'd love a…blow-by-blow description."

Leo shifted, a little uncomfortable. Since he'd come on board, the Companion had spent the majority of her free time trying to seduce him. It certainly wasn't that the doctor wasn't interested…but, like most everyone out here, she was a very different kind of personality than he was used to dealing with. On the Core, you sought out a Companion, not the other way around.

Leo breathed a sigh, mingled relief and regret, when Rachel and Dex came down the stairs from the bridge. Rachel gestured at Daphne and scowled—Dex merely smiled wanly.

Leo cleared his throat. "Captain…Rachel. I hope you don't mind, we're using your cargo bay as a gladiatorial arena."

Rachel glanced down at Mona and Sir Anderson dancing around each other and shook her head. Only two people who hated each other that much could possibly get along that well. "Mona!"

The pilot looked up to the catwalk just as Sir Anderson's jab fell, the ball-tip pushing against her shoulder and the harmless blade bending up under the weight. "Hey, no fair!" The old man merely grinned, saluted with the weapon, and dropped it to his side.

Rachel was halfway down the stairs to the cargo bay. "Hate to interrupt the fencing lesson, but we are comin' up on Athens, and it might just be a good idea t' have someone sittin' in that big chair upstairs who knows how to fly the ship and keep us all from dyin'…you know, some kind of…what's the word…"

Dex leaned over the railing. "Come on, Rach…"

Rachel ignored him and snapped her fingers. "Pilot! That's it. Now who here do you think fits that description?"

Mona's nose wrinkled in annoyance as she tossed the sword to Sir Anderson. "I want a rematch."

The old man shrugged. "The loser always does."

"Jus' scurry on up to the cockpit and get us to ground. I ain't payin' you to play at kun ba xi."

Mona nodded meekly. "Yes, Miss Wu."

Sir Anderson frowned at the captain's tone. "Now, Captain, you don't have to be so rough on her. It was my idea."

"Yeah, and that's another reason you ought to stay out of this, you zi si cai zhu. What if she got hurt doin' that?"

"I…I assure you, the blades are quite harmless."

Rachel finally managed to catch herself, and bit her lip. "Just strap in for landing."

As the others filtered off to take their positions for landing, Dex trotted down the stairs and settled into place beside his commanding officer and best friend. "All right, qin jie, what's up?" Rachel looked back at him, confused and a little annoyed. "You been ornery as all hell last few days. Sir Chen I can understand, but I ain't never seen you talk like that to Mona. You two get your spats, but…you ain't never been mean before."

Rachel had to bite her tongue to keep from lashing out at him—and that more than anything made her realize that he was right. She shook her head. "I'm sorry. It's just…the Chafees reminded me of somethin'."

Dex nodded. He would have liked to ask what, but he knew her too well; Rachel Wu wasn't one to talk about her feelings. "I…I'll be in the engine room."

As Dex edged away from her, Rachel swore silently to herself. She had to stop taking it out on them—it wasn't their fault, after all. It was hers.

When he cleared the stairs, Dex turned his head toward the dining room as Rachel tromped into the forward corridor. Shaking his head, he let himself slide into the engine room and practically jumped when he turned around to face the corner of the room.

Mariah shrugged apologetically as Dex tried to regain his composure. "Sorry. I'm just…hiding." Dex glanced back to out into the corridor, where Rachel was just now disappearing onto the bridge. He could understand that. He gestured for Mariah to sit on the low shelf running around the small room. "I've been trying to avoid her for the past few days."

Dex chuckled. "Why didn't I try that?" He shook his head. "Just wish I could figure on what's got her so yuan sha xiao gou."

Mariah cast a token glance down the hallway, even though Rachel was long out of sight. "What do you know about her family?"

Dex blinked in surprise at the seemingly random interjection, then shrugged. "Just what she told me. Folks died in the war. Think she had a little sister too, 's why she gets so motherly to Mona sometimes." Mariah nodded thoughtfully. "Why?"

Mariah shook her head. "Just a feeling. This started right after we left Hobenson's. Maybe that Chafee girl got her thinking…"

Dex sighed and nodded. "Guess I got lucky there. Never had no brothers or sisters, 'less you count Mona. My folks died 'fore I could know 'em…all the family I got's here on this boat." Dex shook his head out of his musings. "How 'bout you?"

Mariah shrugged. "Oh, you know. Mother, father, pets. Quan shou. But we don't really talk anymore."

Dex nodded sympathetically. He'd always been curious about why she'd left the Core, but she didn't like to talk about it—it seemed like no one on the ship was very excited about people knowing what they came from. Still, he was fighting with the temptation to ask when the comm buzzer rang. "Dex, you wanna come up to the bridge? We're about to break atmo."

Dex smiled reassuringly to Mariah, then turned and headed out into the corridor. When he hopped up the stairs to the bridge, the view was filled with the white and orange curve of the planet Athens. The world's famously hectic weather patterns spun the clouds in lazy circles, casting shadows on the scrub below. As Artemis broke into the atmosphere, Dex could see the ruins of the old cities. The War had been hard on Athens; only the farms still had any measure of success, and that was slim.

Rachel glanced at the markers on the side console representing landing beacons. "There. Head for Wai 4-6. That'll put us down right outside Orville."

Mona nodded, subdued, and bent the flight yoke down toward the landing site. When the ground came swooping up and the ship settled into a sand-lined landing pit, Dex stumbled to keep up with Rachel's businesslike march down toward the cargo bay. When the cargo bay doors swished open, Rachel's breath caught in her throat. As if things weren't bad enough…

She imagined that all Border world farming towns must have looked similar in certain ways—the same wood-frame houses, the same windmills, the same solar sheeting on the same adobe brewery. But somehow the town of Orville, Athens looked just like home.

…

"Young lady, get back here!"

Rachel skidded to a stop as if lassoed by her mother's rebuke. The thirteen year old sighed and turned on her heel. "What is it, Mom?"

Her mother stepped out of the shadow of the covered porch, thin arms crossed sternly over her apron. "Where're you off to in such a hurry?"

"Down to town. I finished all my chores, and old man Rawls always gets new shipments in on Tuesdays."

Rachel's mother squinted into the searing afternoon sun, then nodded. "All right, but take your sister."

"Mom!"

"Yin wo yun ran!"

Rachel rolled her eyes as her mother vanished through the kitchen door, then the girl circled back around the side of the house. Jasmine was probably playing with that stupid mud-puddle again.

As Rachel cleared the side of the house, she heard splashing—sure enough, there was Jasmine, laughing, hands cutting through the muddy water, trying to grasp the white tadpoles that stuck out against the brown surface. Rachel shook her head—what a baby. "Hey, qiang shi dou lie ren!" Jasmine looked up and grinned as her older sister approached her pond. "Come on, we're going down into town."

"Okay!" Jasmine bounded up and, before Rachel knew it, the six year old was in front of her. Rachel let out an exasperated sigh as she jogged to catch up—when would this kid run out of energy?

Rachel had finally managed to catch Jasmine's hand as they reached the middle of the hill that led into town. Rachel squinted as she looked out over the laughably named sun-baked mud pit of Pierson City. Something was wrong. Usually at this time of day, there would be people about: farmers talking about their crops, tradesmen hawking their cheap wares, old men sitting on their porches, whittling or smoking. But there was no one. Rachel squeezed Jasmine's hand as they walked onto the clay main street. She had a bad feeling about this.

As they rounded the first bend in the road, Rachel heard muted noise coming from Rawls' Miscellany, the general store. Rachel pushed open the door and blinked in confusion; it looked like the whole town had crammed itself into Mr. Rawls' tiny one-room shop. Rachel craned her neck to try to see over the crowd; all she could tell for sure was that the Cortex screen, the only one in Pierson City, was switched on.

Rachel grabbed her sister's hand tighter as she tried to push through the crowd. "Excuse me, excuse me…" she tugged on the coat of one of the farmers. "What's going on?" The man cast an annoyed glance downward and shook his head. By the time Rachel fought to the front of the store, she was more worried than she'd ever been. She grabbed the owner's sleeve. "Mr. Rawls, what's goin' on?"

Rawls cast a pitying glance downward and pointed at the screen. This close to the front, Rachel could now hear the news report. "…leaving over one hundred dead or wounded. The Parliament has issued a new policy in response to the incident, saying that the inclusion of the outer planets in the Allied system will be mandatory, and ensured by military and Interpol forces if necessary. Multiple independent factions have already…"

Rachel looked up at Rawls in confusion. The old man had a grimace plastered on his face. "Alliance comin', bi niu. We're goin' t' war…"

"Kitties!" Dex dodged out of her path as Mona made a beeline for the wooden box with five kittens milling about in the bottom. She leaned her face down, a dumbstruck grin on her face. "Oh, they're so cute. Cap'n can we please get one? I promise I'll take care of her, and feed her, and play with her every day…"

Dex glanced sidelong at Rachel, half expecting her to snap at the teenager again. Luckily, Rachel wasn't paying attention at all. She seemed to be staring at the hills that bordered Orville. Come to think of it, she had been ever since they'd stepped off the ship. "Rach?" Seeming almost reluctant, she shook her head and glanced over at her mechanic. "Why don' I take Mariah n' Saul, find Tyco about this job?"

Rachel cleared her throat and nodded. "Right."

Before he began to move off, Dex placed his hand on her shoulder. "You sure you're all right?"

Rachel tried to smile. "Yeah, I'm fine." Dex wasn't convinced, but the best thing he could do right now was give her some time to mull it over. If she wanted to tell him something, she'd tell him. With one last skeptical glance at his best friend, Dex shook his head and began to lead the others off toward the center of town.

Rachel watched them go, then turned her head back down to Mona. The girl had selected the smallest of the kittens, a ball of orange and white fluff, and was making kissy faces at it. Rachel turned her head to look more closely at Mona. God—she was so much like Jasmine.

Dex held the door open for Mariah as they left Tyco's Feed. The deal was all set up…he'd have the canisters of alfalfa on their ship as soon as it was collected, and at a much more reasonable cost than Dex had expected. Tyco's original price had been an arm and a leg, of course, but he'd seemed more than willing to lower it as a favor to Mariah. Dex cast a glare at the large, sweaty man in the shadows of the feed store—the look Tyco was giving Mariah made him more than a little uneasy. He swung the door shut in what he hoped was a clear and pointed manner.

Saul cracked his shoulders as his eyes swept the dusty town. "Well, we got a good two days 'til he gets us that shipment. What now?"

Dex shrugged. Before he could make a suggestion, he noticed that the few people who had been on the street when they went in to the feed store were gone. Now, there were just the men at the other end of the road. The middle one on a horse, the other two on foot. All armed. And there was the young man at their feet.

Mariah squinted. "What are they doing?"

Dex narrowed his eyes. He'd seen this kind of thing back home, too often, from the ranch owners' prods. "Ta men bei za."

Mariah's eyes bulged. "They're not going to lynch him!"

Saul nodded. "Wonder what he done."

Dex strode forward. He didn't have his gun with him, but he wasn't listening to the part of his mind that would have told him that. "Don't matter. Ain't nothin' as deserves that. Come on."

Saul hesitated. Mariah cast a glance up at him as she followed. The cook sighed as he drew his gun and jogged after them. Sometimes those two were almost as bad as Mona.

"…think I like makin' a example o' you, Patrice? I had my way, we'd all jus' get along, but you don' wanna seem t…" One of the others tapped the mounted man and he halted his speech. Stoltz grinned as he looked up at the three approaching them. He'd never seen them before—it was likely they belonged to that fancy ship that had landed that afternoon. "A'ternoon, folks. What all can I do fer ye?"

Dex crossed his arms. "You can show me your badge or you can untie that man."

Stoltz looked back at his compatriots and began to chuckle. "Guess you's new here, boy. I's Davey Stoltz, an' I runs this 'ere town."

Mariah grabbed Dex's shoulder and pulled him back. "Looks like a protection racket. Be careful."

"Girl's smart, four-eyes. Y'all oughta just be on yer way." Dex looked at Saul out of the corner of his eye. The cook nodded slightly.

Dex stepped back toward the horse. "Y'all oughta cu qiang jian bi ci."

Stoltz burst out laughing. "Hot damn, boy, you do got guts, don'tcha?" His laughter faded. "Kill 'em. Even the girl." As the standing men raised their guns, Dex dove for Mariah. He had her on the ground as they took their first shots. Unfortunately for them, both those shots were aimed toward the movement—that meant that by the time they saw Saul raise his pistol, they were already on the ground. One was obviously dead, but he'd hit the other in the knee. Without a word, the cook leveled the gun at Stoltz. He looked down the barrel, then at his men on the ground, then at Patrice. Then he shook his head. "Y'all just killed yerselves." Before Saul could mutter his witty response, Stoltz had turned the horse and was off back toward the hills.

Mariah looked up at Dex as she saw the horseman ride off out of the corner of her eye. "Thanks."

"Yeah, well, I din't want you to get shot."

"So…I can get up now?"

Dex climbed off of her and cleared his throat, his entire face red. He offered her his hand. As soon as she was standing and Dex straightened himself, Saul grabbed the mechanic by his shoulder and wrenched him around. "What the hell were you thinkin', man?"

Before Dex could answer, if he would have, they both turned to the sound of the young man, Patrice, groaning as Mariah helped him to his feet. "You all right?" The man, dust and blood stuck to his face, nodded weakly.

"You shouldna done that. Y'all don't want to deal with that man."

"We couldn't just let them kill you." Mariah cast a bitter glance up at Saul. "Right?"

Saul grimaced, and finally sighed in spite of himself. "You live around here?"

Patrice nodded, wincing in pain. "Come on."

Dex shot his eyes around the town before they began to walk. He could swear there were a few people looking back at him from between window shades and slatted doors, eyes wide, and the sound of astonished muttering drifting into the street. Dex gulped. He believed he might have just had the bad fortune to have turned himself into a hero.

…

A tiny frontier woman was on top of them as soon as they crossed the threshold, buzzing around Patrice in horror between brief, urgent hugs and kisses. His wife, Saul figured, as they set the young man down into one of his kitchen chairs. "Oh, God, Jim, what happened?" He winced as she wrapped her arms around him again.

"'S all right, Annie. These folk showed up just the right time."

Annie cast a worried glance at her husband, then straightened herself, smoothed out her apron, and turned to her three guests. "Xie xie, ke an le bian di kai hua nei tai ming!"

"'Fraid they might as well have just left me to die."

Annie cast a glance back at him, half scolding, half horrified. "Don't you say that."

"Well, I ain't never gonna be able to pay Stoltz fer this house, am I? He jus' gonna keep comin' 'til no one bothers t' step in no more."

"Wait…" Mariah stepped forward into the kitchen proper. "I don't understand."

Patrice shrugged and nodded. "Davey Stoltz says I owe 'im five hundred platinum fer buildin' my farm here."

"He owns this land?"

Patrice furrowed his eyebrows. "Not exactly…"

Annie set down the tea kettle she had been filling and took the seat next to her husband's at the kitchen table. "Davey Stoltz thinks he owns this whole town, on account o' his grandfather founded it. Says that since old man Stoltz gave out the first couple grants, anyone who wants to be part o' the town of Orville's leasin' his land. Ain't never been any law to back it up…"

Patrice's hand came to rest on the table and squeezed his wife's gently. "…so he decided he'as gonna be his own law. Got a whole gang o' strong-arms and a bunch o' cash his family made by ownin' the mines before they dried up." Patrice cast a meek glance at his wife, as if ashamed to be telling this to outsiders, but Annie nodded for him to continue. "Nowadays, folk just mostly do what he says, let 'im run this town like his own personal plantation." Dex nodded. He knew the type—every backwater farmer did. "'Cept I don't got the money. We thought the house was far enough from th' town proper that Stoltz wouldn't say nothin', but then he starts sayin' that he gets to choose where the borders of the town is." Annie held her husband's hand as he continued. "Dirt the way it is here, we barely make enough for the two of us, and now we got a baby on the way…" At this, Annie looked warmly down at her stomach. The crew hadn't noticed it at first, but there was a small bump under her apron. It wasn't too far along, but it was there. Saul let his eyes wander around the small farmhouse and let out a muttered Chinese oath. They sure weren't making this easy.

"Please? I promise to take really good care of her…" It had been over an hour now since they had left the farmhouse to explore the town, and Mona had been begging nonstop since then. It was just now occurring to her that Rachel might not be listening. "Miss Wu? Captain?"

Rachel blinked and looked down at her pilot. "Shen me?"

Mona looked askance at her captain, then frowned. "Captain, I'm tryin' to grovel, here." Rachel squinted down and Mona shook her head. She hadn't been listening to a word. "The cat."

Finally, Rachel's eyes cleared in recognition. "Right. No."

"Cap'n…"

"I ain't gonna have any animal livin' on my boat. Probably get into the conduits or fill the air processors full o' fur."

Mona sighed. She happened to know that the captain liked animals. What was wrong with her? Mona was about to speak when Rachel's comm clicked and Saul's voice warbled through.

"Captain? Where are you?"

Rachel scooped the handset off of her belt. "Mona and I are down in town. D'you get us a job worked out?"

"We got a job, but…you see a farmhouse on the top of a hill, got a windmill behind it?" Rachel looked up.

"Yeah."

"You might want to get up here. We got into a situation in town, and…Dex and Mariah…"

Rachel sighed. "What did they do now?"

"We haven't done anything!" Rachel's father tried unsuccessfully to block the front door, but one of the Alliance grunts shoved him aside. The officer stepped into the house, looking around at the sparse but colorful furnishings with obvious distaste.

"You're innocence isn't in question, Mr…" the officer glanced at the prospectus his attendant offered, "Wu. The Army of the Allied Planets needs this building to set up a communications interlink for our troops on this planet. We've already received word that the Independents have a ground base not far from here."

"But, sir…this is our home…you can't just…"

The officer turned his attention to Rachel's father and glared. He was thin, with a face that was beginning to show the wear of age and hard work. Rachel, held tight next to her mother, couldn't help but think how much bigger the Alliance officer looked, dwarfing the man who was trying to keep his home.

"I feel compelled to remind you, Mr. Wu, that according to the Blanken-Sing Border Security Act, Parliamentary Bill 0401236, you are required to give aid and quarter to all representatives of the Allied Parliament and its military or be tried for noncomplicity." By now, the officer had moved closer to Rachel's father, leaning down over him enough to make the short man bend back. "My men are here to protect you from chaos. Have you ever heard what the Browncoats do to women and children they capture? Do you want that to happen to your family? Is that the kind of father and husband they breed out here at the pi gu duan zhan yu zhou?"

Jasmine couldn't stand it any more. Her mother had a firm grip on her, but the girl's sudden motion caught her off guard. Rachel and her mother both snatched wildly at her, but the girl was already too far away. "Shut up, chwen yi dwei da buen chuo ro!" Rachel couldn't help but be impressed—where had a seven year old learned that?

The Alliance officer seemed impressed too. For a moment, he looked like he might slap the little girl—then he began laughing. "I can see you've done an excellent job raising your children in the finest traditions of the Border." He was addressing Rachel's mother now, following Jasmine as she backed toward the rest of the family, suddenly very aware of what she'd said. His eyes shifted—Rachel didn't know what the look was at the time, but the officer smiled and raised his gloved hand to Mrs. Wu's cheek. "How a ke pa ha like yourself, Mr. Wu, could trick such a stunning creature into wedding you is beyond me." Rachel's mother flinched as he touched her cheek. His eyes shifted back, and now he was addressing her again. "You could have a wonderful future, you know. You don't have to be trapped on this go se pen quan xing xing." Mrs. Wu shivered under his hand, and Rachel saw her father's face twist in pain and his hand stray to the rolling pin discarded on the kitchen table. She opened her mouth in horror, glanced at her sister, then up at her mother, then one last time at her father. Rachel knew exactly what was about to happen.

One of the soldiers saw him as he started the short charge to the officer and the rest of his family. The man shouted and tried to get between them, but Rachel's father drove right into the officer, the rolling pin landing a hollow-sounding blow to the side of his head. Rachel squeezed her eyes shut as the soldiers fired. Tears welled up in her eyes as the officer tried to right himself, staring down at the farmer's body with contempt. "Huen dan!"

Now it was Rachel who charged, jumping onto the officer's back as he tried to pick up his hat. The man let out a shriek of pain as Rachel's fingernails dug into his cheeks. Rachel dragged her nails down his face, then cried out in pain as one of the soldiers slammed the butt of his rifle into the small of her back. She fell to the ground sobbing—Jasmine ran to her, and their mother hovered over them protectively.

Finally taking his hands from his face, the officer glared down at them. He was bleeding, long streaks of red down his cheeks, and breathing hard. "Get them out." The last thing Rachel saw as the grunts encircled them was her father's body crumple as the officer kicked him…it…in the stomach. "We have work to do."

…

As Patrice finished relating the story of Orville for the second time, Rachel leaned over to look at Dex, whose eyes were cast to the ground. He was sure she was about to ku jue xue guan—they already had too many enemies as it was, and the last thing in the 'Verse Artemis needed was trouble on a simple, legal job like this one. As she stepped up to him, Dex braced himself. "'S gettin' late. Why don't you n' Saul stay here tonight and keep an eye. Tomorrow we can figure out what to do." Dex glanced up hesitantly. She didn't look angry, not like the fiery tong tian shi she usually was during her bad moods, at least, but she certainly didn't look like herself.

"Rach, what's wrong? If you can't tell me, who can you tell?"

Rachel brushed past him, swinging the door open, Mona and Mariah following some distance behind. "See you tomorrow morning."

Dex sighed as Mariah shot him a sympathetic glance and followed Rachel. Long night ahead…

"Check."

Leo let out a low whistle as he moved his king out of the path of Daphne's bishop. He'd always considered himself a master, but the Companion was starting to wear him down. Her outfit did little to help his concentration. He cleared his throat and refocused on the board. "Thank you for playing. I think my uncle was starting to get tired of chess."

"Oh, anything to make our new guests more comfortable." He felt Daphne's foot slide against his trouser leg, and he shifted uncomfortably.

"I, uh…I'm surprised you're still here. I thought you…I thought you'd have a client."

Daphne leaned back in the lounge's padded chair. "On Athens, are you kidding? Most of the nong fu here couldn't even spell Companion." Leo chuckled. It was true—Athens had been devastated during the war. There was really nothing left but subsistence farmers and contractors salvaging scrap from the bombed-out cities. "I'll just have to fu mo wo de ji zhen zhu." Leo coughed awkwardly as she looked up at him. He might not have been on the frontier long, but that didn't seem like the kind of thing that people talked about in polite company, even this far out.

"You're not…really the typical sort of Companion, are you?"

"Oh, you noticed?" She leaned forward again, squeezing her arms tightly to her sides. "I always thought those ceremonies and ling bu bi yao zu li were ridiculous. I mean, heaven forbid I should do my job because I like it…"

Leo picked up his knight. "Is that why you left Bernadette?" The Companion bent back from the table. "Well, you know why I'm all the way out here. I think it's only fair."

Daphne smiled sumptuously and leaned back over the board, elbows up, dislodging a few of her own pieces. "If it's that important to you, we could always talk about it after."

She had leaned across the table almost far enough to do whatever it was she was planning to do when the clatter of boots echoed into the lounge from the cargo bay. Leo was up first—Daphne sighed softly and followed him.

"Rachel. Good to see you back." She nodded dismissively as she, Mona, and Mariah entered the cargo bay.

"Hi Leo! I really wish you'd been with us in town today." Leo smiled lightly at Mona, nodded, and turned back to the captain. Mona smiled hopefully, then, gradually fading, sank backward, up the stairs to the bridge.

"How did things go today? Do we have a cargo? Is something wrong, I thought you planned to be back before now?"

Rachel sighed as Leo wedged himself in front of her. "Tai yi wen shi bi kang, doc, this really ain't the time. Just mind your own business."

Leo squinted and tightened his lips. "I'm sorry, I thought as ship's doctor it was my business. Or maybe I don't really count as crew, seeing as I wasn't even asked if I needed to go into town this morning."

Rachel glared. "Right, I'm sure you had some pressing cocktail party or board meeting at one of the farmhouses."

"I'm trying to be useful to this crew, Rachel. Forgive me if I wasn't born in the ni chen…"

Rachel pushed past the doctor with a grimace. "You want to be useful? Stay the hell out o' everyone's way 'til things get desperate enough we call you."

Leo was about to respond, when Daphne's hand fell on his shoulder. "Why don't we go finish our game?"

Leo smiled bitterly. "Yes, why don't we." As they walked off, Leo slipped his arm around the Companion's waist. Rachel watched them go, with a short, burning glance at Leo's black sleeve cinched around Daphne's blue silk. Mariah noticed the look in the captain's eyes and smiled. She'd thought as much.

Rachel turned to the dilettante and glared. "What?"

Mariah backed off, hands up in submission. "Nothing."

Rachel shook her head and muttered as she walked toward the stairs. "Chuan chong man biao zi ruo tong…"

Mariah shook her head ruefully as the rest of the crew and passengers stormed off. Long night ahead…

"You gonna sleep at all tonight?"

Saul shrugged. "Figure I might as well keep watch, case Stoltz tries somethin'." Dex nodded. "How 'bout you?"

The mechanic let the screen door slip shut. "These folks are nice and all, but their parlor furniture ain't exactly conducive to a good night's rest." Saul chuckled and nodded as Dex took the other rocking chair. The cook offered him the steel flask nestled in his hand. Dex shook his head. "I ain't the whiskey type."

"Mei wen ti. It's bourbon." Dex chuckled and waved the liquor off. Saul shrugged and took a swig. There were a few moments of relative silence, broken only by the crickets and the gentle creak of the windmill, before Dex turned to the cook.

"Look, back in town…I'm real sorry I, you know…jumped in without thinking and almost got you killed."

Saul shrugged. "Not like it was the first time."

"Ci fo, anyone ever tell you it's real hard to 'pologize to you?"

Saul let a slight smile crack his face. "Don't worry about it. Daily gunplay's part of the job description." He took another drink. "Prob'ly woulda done the same thing in your place, anyways. 'Magine you had a good enough reason."

Dex shrugged. "Yeah, I did." He leaned back on the rocking chair, taking in the smell of farmland, hay and tanned leather—it took him back, unwittingly, to the first nineteen years of his life, to the ranch…he sighed. "You wanna know what that reason was, Saul?"

"Not really."

"Oh. All righty. You sure?"

"Yeah."

"Right."

…

It was what Patrice had described as "one of the light days"; it was only nine in the morning, but the sun was already coaxing beads of sweat from Dex's forehead. He set down the free end of the fence beam, the other already slotted into the post, and wiped a bare forearm across his head, momentarily dislodging his glasses. When he righted them, he saw a black silhouette rising over the hillside. He smiled as Mariah stepped closer and her features solidified out of the shadow. "Howdy, ma'am, what can I do for ya?"

Mariah arched her eyebrows. "I didn't realize you were moonlighting as a ranchhand."

Dex shrugged. "These folks have a lot o' work needs doin', and poor Patrice can't handle it all by himself. Figured I might as well pitch in while I'm here." With some effort, Dex lifted the wooden beam into its slot on the fence post. "'Sides, kinda takes me back."

"Your folks were farmers back on Beaumonde?"

Dex shifted his eyes back down to the fence. "Yeah, you could say that." Mariah narrowed her eyes. Why did he always do that when someone asked about his childhood? She sighed. She wouldn't get anywhere by pushing.

"Listen, in town yesterday…"

Dex straightened up. "Yeah. I, uh, I'm sorry. Where I'm from, when somebody went against the folks who…That kinda thing jus' gets to me." Mariah nodded solemnly. Dex cleared his throat. "So where's everyone else?"

"On their way. I just wanted to get ahead. Stay out of the captain's way." Dex smiled thinly. "And, you know…see if you were…how you were doing."

It was a while before Dex managed to speak. "Uh, why don't we…get back to the house? Saul's still there." Mariah nodded and fell into step beside the mechanic, occasionally casting a furtive glance across at his thin face stenciled against the sunlight. Normally, the awkward exchange would have followed, the two trading glances, eyes never meeting, like they'd done before. But Dex wasn't paying attention. He was somewhere else now, some distant site from his past that their conversation had knocked open. More than anything, she wanted to know what it was that made him so ashamed, so afraid of opening up, but she wouldn't have pushed even if she'd been able to get up the nerve. Mariah knew geng jai ren he qi ta that everyone had things he needed to keep to himself.

"Are we gonna stay behind that fan gui bar again tonight?" Jasmine wrinkled her nose in disgust as Rachel dragged her along the streets.

After they lost the farm, Mrs. Wu had moved the family to Arline to get away from the war. It was bigger than Pierson City, though, and the first year had been hard. She had sold herself, Rachel keeping her little sister busy and, more importantly, unaware of where their mother was spending her time. Rachel knew, though. And in the middle of the second year of the war, when an over insistent client had throttled their mother to keep her from screaming, it was Rachel who had to look out for Jasmine. "No. There's too much chance the old man'll catch us this time. Maybe we can see if there's work to be done in any of the shops."

"Why? There never is."

She was right. There were too many people displaced by the war—no one even took a second look at them. "Well, have you got a better idea?" Rachel jerked on her hand. "Come on." They'd been on their own for almost a year, and Jasmine was starting to grate on the sixteen year old's nerves.

Rachel looked back. Jasmine was resisting. "No! I want to go back to the farm! I want Mama!"

With an exasperated screech, Rachel dropped Jasmine's hand. "Wan niu! I been tellin' you for a year now we can't go back!"

"No! We're going back! I want to go home right now! I'm tired of this si wang zhou dian—"

Jasmine's complaints were cut off as the back of her sister's hand slammed into her cheek. "What's the hell's wrong with you?" Rachel's face was red, tears streaming down her cheeks, visible even in the waning evening light. "Do you have any idea how hard this is for me?" For the first time she could remember since her mother's death, Rachel turned her back on her sister. "Why don't you just grow up?" Rachel sniffed, sighed, turned, and tried to regain her lock on Jasmine's wrist. "Come on."

"No!" Jasmine pushed back into the street, a genuine rage in her eyes. "I hate you! I want Mama!"

"No, Jas, wait…" Rachel clawed her way through the late crowd, trying to follow the occasional flash of Jasmine's red sweater. She was headed for the outskirts, where the Alliance army base had been before the front shifted and the area changed hands. Rachel was losing ground. "Jas! Jasmine! Hui lai, Jasmine!"

"Rach?"

"…hm?"

"It's your call."

Mariah shook her head. "We can't let Stoltz do this. Someone has to stop him."

Saul shrugged. "I'm not sayin' the girl ain't right, but we don't have the muscle to take the hurt to someone like him."

"Rach, whatever you decide…we'll back you."

Rachel leaned back, looked at the faces arrayed before her in the Patrices' living room, and exhaled.

"Ha!" Mona lunged, but Sir Anderson caught her blade against his just in time and spun around to her side. Instead of trying to stop in time, however, Mona continued the momentum the old man had given her, swirling daintily around until she was behind him, and lightly touching the flat of the foil to his back. "Chu!"

Sir Anderson chuckled slightly as the pilot backed away, grinning. "Bu li er, Miss Ramona. Might just make a fighter out of you yet."

"Oh, you're one to talk, gu fu! While you're twirling that sword around, the other fellow'd just shoot you."

Sir Anderson smiled wryly and saluted with the blade. "That's why I don't plan to get into any gunfights."

"Yeah, well I didn't either, and I been in a solid dozen since I came aboard."

The nobleman shook his head. "I still can't believe the situations one is exposed to on a ship like this. It can't be healthy for a child your age."

"I'm not a child!" Sir Anderson raised his eyebrows in condescension. "Okay, that's it, che gang, old man." Sir Anderson angled his sword down toward the teenager's, then stopped, his head jerking to the side. "What's the matter, not—"

"Bi jweh."

Mona narrowed her eyes. "What?" she whispered.

"I heard something." Circling around the other side of the stairs toward the front of the cargo bay, Sir Anderson squinted. They'd left the cargo ramp open to let the air and warmth in. He was starting to wonder if it had been such a good idea.

Mona glanced about nervously, backing toward the cargo crates. "I'm gonna call Miss—" A hand over her mouth muffled Mona's startled cry.

Sir Anderson turned around just in time to see the man who had grabbed Mona make a run for the opening. As the man passed, barely taking notice of his surroundings, Sir Anderson raised the sword, bringing the round blade down across his face. The man doubled back, dropping Mona from his arms—even though the foils had no edge, Sir Anderson knew from experience that they still stung like huo ma chao. The nobleman turned to the door control panel and frantically scooped up the radio that Mona had left. "Captain Wu, we've—"

Sir Anderson crumpled to the ground as the handle of the second man's pistol finished its arc past his head. Mona had managed to stand, but that was all she could do before the larger of the men grabbed her again, kicking and screaming even as the leather bag fell over her eyes.

…

Rachel leaned back, looked at the faces arrayed before her in the Patrices' living room, and exhaled. No matter what she decided, if someone got hurt, it would be her fault. Just like it always was. "I don't know how we…"

"Captain Wu, we've—"

Rachel grabbed the radio, hanging off her belt, out of instinct as soon as she heard Sir Anderson's voice. "Chen Nuhn Jwei, what's goin' on? Sir Anderson?" She glanced up at Saul—he was already throwing on his coat. "No more splitting up. We all go. Now."

Mona couldn't see, and the seal the sack made around her head meant she couldn't hear too well either, but she could still feel, and from the degree of resistance against her foot she was fairly certain she'd managed to kick one of them.

"Ling huo wa!" The smaller man wheeled around in the saddle, rubbing the sore spot where her heel had jammed into his back. His companion grinned.

"Told you to watch them girly shoes, Mort."

"Ah, tui tai dang tai pi gu…Why'on't you carry 'er some? We's almos' there anyhow."

The larger thug grunted, moving his horse back to meet his friend's and sliding the girl over to rest behind him. As he did, the bag slid away from Mona's face. She squinted against the bright light spilling into the narrow canyon, but immediately began to thrash again. "Mei yong ma duh tse gu yong! Where're you takin' me?"

"Shaddup, biao zi, or we c'n kill ya just as easy right here!"

"Misser Stoltz said we's s'posed t' bring 'er back to the house."

"Who gives a fei xing mi tian goh qiu, long as they finds th' body?" When she heard this, Mona's struggling slackened, and the thug grinned down at her horrified expression. "See, Misser Stoltz don't like gettin' made a fool out of. Think you's gonna be an example to them as don't understand who owns this town."

Mona's face tightened into a grimace—it took everything she had not to start crying. "My crew's gonna kill you."

The two men kept grinning.

Rachel cleared the cargo ramp just as Daphne finished helping Sir Anderson to his feet. Leo ran forward to check on his uncle, but the Companion shook her head. "He's fine. He was out cold when I came down, though. Rachel…" The captain turned her head. "I can't find Mona. I'm sorry, I didn't hear anything, I just came down to make some tea and…"

Rachel whipped around to face Patrice. "Where's Stoltz live?"

"Down at the end of the canyon. They carved it out for copper before the war, and Zu Fu Stoltz put up a big house in the shallow part."

Saul shook his head uncertainly. "It's pretty far, and they've got a mean head start."

Patrice's wife nodded sadly. "And we couldn't never afford no horses, neither."

Mariah squinted. "We can fly Artemis in."

Rachel shrugged her off. "Warmin' up the engines'd take too long. I'm takin' the mule."

"Don't conjure that thing's fast enough."

Rachel ignored Dex and continued to the three-wheeled vehicle backed into the side of the cargo bay. "Would be with only one rider."

"Rach, you can't be serious…"

"Captain, think about this…"

"Rachel, please!"

"Bi jweh rang kai!"

Rachel's hand reached for the handlebar, but Dex's came down on top of it. "Rach, what the hell's goin' on with you?"

Rachel jerked her hand out of his as she kick-started the mule and pulled out into the center of the cargo bay. "Never again. I promised!"

"Carly…"

The big man sighed. "What now, Mort?"

"She's lookin' at me funny."

"Oh, git yerself a spine, Mort."

The smaller man looked sideways at the teenager. Even thrown across the back of Carly's saddle, she still managed to stare up at him icily. "What? What you lookin' at?"

"I'm jus' picturing what you'll look like with another hole in your head."

"Carly!"

"Oh, relax, ya da wa. Help me git 'er off the horse."

As Mort lifted their captive's legs off the back of the horse, his head jerked up. "D'you just hear somethin'?"

"No, I didn't hear nothin'."

"Ye sure? Sounded like an engine, or summat."

Carly shook his head. "Mort, I swear, one more word out of you…" The first bullet tore neatly through the bridge of the massive thug's nose, and Mona grunted as his arms went slack and she slapped to the ground. She only caught a glimpse of Rachel rushing down the hill, the mule slid into the sand behind her, before the other man twisted her arms behind her back. "Captain!"

"Jasmine!"

Rachel shouldered her way through the crowds, still thick even on the edge of town, but it was no good—she was starting to lose sight of her sister. She was approaching the town's fortress-like gates, and the crowd only seemed to be growing thicker.

By the time she managed to fight her way through into the relative calm beyond the gate, it was already far too late.

"Mortimer, give 'er here!" The thug passed a struggling Mona to the man who had appeared at the gate in the high adobe walls surrounding the house—Stoltz. "Now, gut that jien huo."

Stoltz retreated through the gate, and Mort followed him—trying to keep the adobe between him and his opponent. Rachel circled around calmly, even methodically, two shots at the wall discouraging any ideas the thug might have had.

They were now on opposite sides of the wide gate, trading pot shots while ducking out from behind cover. Rachel's first shot slammed into the wall—her second, into the man's shoulder. As he writhed on the ground, cursing at her in Chinese, her third had little trouble with the rest of him.

"You wanna turn around real slow, whore!" She did—the barrel of Stoltz's pistol was digging into Mona's hair. "You hur bao duhn bei bi shiou ren, you think you can come t' my town, spit on my 'thority 'thout me makin' a example outta you?"

"Put her down, so I can kill you."

Stoltz grinned and pushed Mona against the inner curtain wall—she grunted as her head slammed into the adobe. "Guess I'll kill her second, then." He grinned. "I might not be a fancy Core gentleman but I can still ruttin' count. You fired six shots at my boys. You ain't no got no bullets left."

Stoltz was still grinning as one of Rachel's four remaining bullets shattered his clavicle. "Get with the times," she hissed through clenched teeth. Mona tried to speak, but the captain wasn't looking at her. She was marching forward, Stoltz still writhing on the ground, eyes narrowed.

The Alliance had rarely used conventional land mines in their campaigns, but in the case of their abandoned military bases, it was a safety measure to prevent Independent forces from reusing their structures. Rachel heard the pop when she was still mired in the crowd, and she broke free just in time to watch helplessly as what was left of Jasmine hit the ground.

Stoltz looked up at her with genuine fear in his eyes. Rachel fired.

There was nothing left in her eyes when Rachel ran to her, through the well-meaning onlookers who had tried to hold her back. Jasmine was staring into space, eyes glazed over, her own blood spattering her cheeks. But…she was supposed to take care of her. She never even said goodbye.

Rachel was still firing long after she'd run out of ammunition. It was only when Mona's hand touched her shoulder that the hollow clicking sound registered in her ears and, finally, she collapsed to the ground, Mona's arms wrapped around her as she cried.

"We appreciate all you've done. Whole town does."

Dex nodded. "You figured on what you're gonna do with Stoltz's house?"

Patrice shrugged. "Burn it maybe. Turn it into a museum. Ain't no one really ever had the chance to think about it."

Annie wrapped her arm tightly around her husband's waist, each of them with a hand on the bulge in her stomach. "Y'all ever need anything, you got friends here in Orville." Saul nodded politely, then shot a glance at his captain. She was still staring out over the prairie, a far off look in her eyes. But something was different. He shook his head and went to check the new cargo containers. Dex, Leo, and Mariah waved as the Patrices stepped off the cargo ramp, and Dex slapped the button to retract it.

Rachel watched the horizon narrow, then looked down. The white and orange kitten—Mona still hadn't decided on a name—nuzzled against her boot. She smiled slightly in spite of herself, looked back up at the last fleeting glimpse of Orville, Athens, shut her eyes…and said goodbye.


End file.
